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9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / d. Substance defined

[attempts to define what a substance consists of]

37 ideas
Democritus said that substances could never be mixed, so atoms are the substances [Democritus, by Aristotle]
Earlier Aristotle had objects as primary substances, but later he switched to substantial form [Aristotle, by Lowe]
Things are called 'substances' because they are subjects for everything else [Aristotle]
Substance [ousia] is the subject of predication and cause [aitia?] of something's existence [Aristotle]
Essence (fixed by definition) is also 'ousia', so 'ousia' is both ultimate subject, and a this-thing [Aristotle]
A substance is what-it-is-to-be, or the universal, or the genus, or the subject of saying [Aristotle]
It is matter that turns out to be substance [ousia] [Aristotle]
Matter is not substance, because substance needs separability and thisness [Aristotle]
The substance is the form dwelling in the object [Aristotle]
Substance is unified and universals are diverse, so universals are not substance [Aristotle, by Witt]
A thing's substance is its primary cause of being [Aristotle]
None of the universals can be a substance [Aristotle]
In Aristotle, 'proté ousia' is 'primary being', and 'to hupokeimenon' is 'that which lies under' (or 'substance') [Aristotle, by Politis]
Substance is distinct being because of its unity [Aristotle, by Witt]
A substance needs nothing else in order to exist [Descartes]
Substance is that of which an independent conception can be formed [Spinoza]
Substance is the power of self-actualisation [Spinoza, by Lord]
We think of substance as experienced qualities plus a presumed substratum of support [Locke]
Substance is that which can act [Leibniz]
Substance is a force for acting and being acted upon [Leibniz]
Substances cannot be bare, but have activity as their essence [Leibniz]
Leibnizian substances add concept, law, force, form and soul [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
Substances are essentially active [Leibniz, by Jolley]
There is no other substance, in a strict sense, than spirit [Berkeley]
Material substance is just general existence which can have properties [Berkeley]
All appearances need substance, as that which persists through change [Kant]
Substance must exist, as the persisting substratum of the process of change [Kant]
Substance has to exist, with no intrinsic qualities or relations [McTaggart]
We refer to persisting substances, in perception and in thought, and they aid understanding [Wiggins]
On substances, Leibniz emphasises unity, Spinoza independence, Locke relations to qualities [Lowe]
A 'substance' is an object which doesn't depend for existence on other objects [Lowe]
The general assumption is that substances cannot possibly be non-substances [Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
Substance is a principle and a kind of cause [Wedin]
The bundle theory of substance implies the identity of indiscernibles [Macdonald,C]
Substance needs independence, unity, and stability (for individuation); also it is a subject, for predicates [Perkins]
A substance is, roughly, a basic being or subject at the foundation of reality [Robb]
Substance must have two properties: individuation, and property-bearing [Tallant]